Alameda County Department of Children & Family Services
Resource, Development & Support (RDS) Workgroup Minutes
November 10, 2005
Prepared by: Rosalind McMillan & Faith M. Battles
Present: Mary Anne Aikens, Elvira Aguirre, Mia Buckner-Preston, Rosalind McMillan, Katherine Richard, Nancy Oakley, Dixie Hall, Anne Loyola, Dr. Cynthia Whitfield, Vanessa Cormier, Howard Jacobs, Manny Velez, Juan Jose’ Lemus, May Clemente, Sheila Selover, Gwen Evans-McWilliams, Delilah Duenas, Tina Hughes & Dora Fisher
I. Announcements and/or Concerns
A meeting to discuss the needs of lesbian, gay, bi-sexual, transgender and/or queer will be held on December 8, 2005 from 12pm to 2pm at the East Bay Community Foundation located at 1 Frank Ogawa Plaza in Oakland, CA. The Department is seeking to provide placements needs for this under represented population through partnerships in and around Alameda County.
II. Report back from Department retreat
The Department sponsored a retreat October 27, 2005 to October, 28, 2005 to plan the direction of the Department for 2006. Management staff from the Department, Juvenile Dependency Court judges, former foster youth, a birth parent, Welfare Benefits Administration staff and various other community partners participated in the retreat. Much of the planning focused on the following; expanding the Alternative Response System (ARS) to east and west Oakland, building upon the “Step Up” program in group homes designed to move youth to lower levels of care and connect with relatives, increasing stipend amount paid to Resource Parents and providing childcare options and moving forward with the waiver. This waiver from the federal government will allow the county more flexibility with how to spend a certain amount of money provided up front for a 5-year period. During the retreat, California Department of Social Services asked the Department what type of monies would be needed to build upon existing or expand promising programs. The Department gathered a quick response with attention to expanding the SEED program and the Linkages project. Next steps were laid out to be followed up on as 2006 approaches.
III. Report back from Family to Family Recruitment, Development & Support Convening
The Department sent representatives to San Francisco for the northern California cluster meeting around the recruitment, development and support of Resource and Adoptive Parents. Updates from the various counties, including San Francisco, Contra Costa, Stanislaus and Santa Clara, were offered and breakout sessions occurred on “icebreakers,” parent engagement, targeted recruitment strategies, etc. A lively and moving panel of emancipated foster youth as well as a panel of a current Child Welfare Worker, birth parent and relative caregiver discussing the impact of TDMs happened. Good day to exchange information and compare county progress.
IV. Report back from North Carolina Faith-Based Partnership Site Visit
A contingent of consisting of Department staff, an Adoptive Parent, a Resource Parent and various faith leaders traveled to North Carolina to witness the workings of their faith based effort. Ministers in the area became concerned when they were informed of the issues facing the public child welfare system in that county, many of whom were products of the foster care system themselves.
We learned if there is mistrust we must work through the mistrust first and build a trusting relationship to grow from. We learned we must have accurate visual representations of the types of children/youth in the county who need placement as well as a clear recruitment message. Implementation of the faith based effort took approximately 2 years with the goal to increase public awareness of foster care needs. Most of the church involvement in North Carolina were Christian, Baptist and Church of God in Christ congregations. All 33 faith based organizations in North Carolina do not actually foster or adopt but they support public child welfare in other ways according to their interests, i.e., hosting events for graduating foster youth, school supply drives, dinners for Resource Parents other than holidays, donating meeting space for foster care events. Other ways of engaging the community included Wells Fargo Bank sponsoring a drive for community members to select a child from a tree of children to sponsor. North Carolina sponsors an elegant dinner event yearly for Resource Parents as well.
In regards to Alameda County needs, it was mentioned that the Department should not lose sight of the smaller churches while the larger typically active churches move forward in this effort. Possibly using current Resource Parents to make presentations at local churches when we move in that area. Reverend Raymond Langford will likely serve as a consultant in this effort to link the Department with the various faith based organizations.
It was mentioned that it would be wise to consider the religious affiliations the children/youth in placement in Alameda County have and be sure to recruit from that field. It was estimated that Christianity, Islam and Catholicism is typical in this county. Identifying the child/youth’s religious connection early on could serve as a strength in working with that child/youth and their family.
The need for a full time recruiter position was discussed to really move forward in developing a concrete recruitment plan. Further accountability in tracking the number of resource homes we are actually using and the number of foster children/youth placed in the county is needed.
Follow up convening with faith based leadership was held on November 17, 2005 in Jack London Square. The representation of faith based organizations was smaller than hoped for but still encouraging. Youth panel presentation was moving for the group and provided a realistic perspective into the needs in Alameda County. Group home information was provided, as requested by the faith based organizations and a panel of participants on the North Carolina trip reported their findings back. The beginnings of an advisory panel was initiated which will include Carol Collins and Reverend Langford along with representation from the various faith based organizations interested in planning and implementation efforts.
Possible for the Department to utilize Allen Temple for TDMs and hosting PRIDE trainings at local churches in the future.
V. Updates
Media Campaign: The Department is working with the Carol H. Williams Advertising Company in Oakland, CA. Representatives are beginning to meet with Department staff to assess the culture and needs of the Department; managers, line staff, resource parents, foster youth and birth parents. We expect to move forward and have actual items to use for recruitment in early 2006.
PRIDE training: Completing written narratives is actually time consuming and requires a consolidation of all the information gained from home visiting, homework completion and classroom learning. Two documents are written, one smaller and less complex than the other. Last PRIDE class for 2005 will graduate on December 3, 2005. Most of the participants chose adoption ONLY with a small number wanting to foster or consider concurrent planning placements.
PRIDE 2006 dates are as follows with some corrections and additions likely; January 10, 2006 to March 7, 2006; January 18, 2006 to March 25, 2006; February 18, 2005 to April 15, 2006; April 4, 2006 to
May 30, 2006; April 29, 2006 to June 24, 2006 and May 20, 2006 to
July 15, 2006
Licensing issues: DOJ Livescan appointments are taking a very long time with the last appointment at 3:30pm, which does not meet the needs of many prospective Resource/Adoptive Parents. An email to Marilyn Todd and Warren Turner has been forwarded twice to work on a resolution to the issue.
Placement issues: difficulty finding homes to accommodate babies exposed to methamphetamines
Resource Parent issues: concern regarding how to get the “top rate” or “special care” rate. The Department is working to avoid approving a “special rate” for foster families who care for children/youth with unordinary needs until enough time has passed to determine the needs and behavior has occurred to support the special rate
RECRUITMENT IDEAS:
*engage Home Depot to sponsor families wanting to foster but whose homes are inadequate per licensing standards
*expand Faith’s unit for more recruiting ability
*offer PRIDE as a 2-3 unit community college course to spread training information (i.e., child care providers, relative caregivers, community advocates)
*educate Department managers on best way to promote effective Resource Parent images that represent the Department’s needs
RESOURCE PARENT SUPPORT IDEAS:
*for emergency placements have someone to come to the foster home to work with the child/youth for a day to address or identify special needs
*placement staff need to balance strengths of child/youth in need of placement with the needs of the child/youth to avoid discouraging Resource Parent from taking the child/youth or giving them false information
NEXT RDS WORKGROUP MEETING SCHEDULED FOR
THURSDAY, DECEMBER 22, 2005
10AM TO 12PM AT THE ASSESSMENT CENTER
RDS WORKGROUP MEETS EVERY
2ND AND 4TH THURSDAY OF THE MONTH
SAME TIME, SAME PLACE
REMEMBER...STAY CONCERNED! ;-)
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